Vina Robles Amphitheatre

The WORST parking situation ever! Super cool venue but the parking situation is terrible! You’ve been in business for 3+ years and you still do not have a parking situation figured out?!? Come on! With the amount of people your venue holds, you need to figure out a exit strategy! One road in, one road out is not the solution!

My group of 6 and I attended the Lee Brice concert tonight, ⁶⁄₅. Lee Brice was amazing, and we have no complaints about the show or sound for that matter! However, customer service at the wine bar was severely lacking. After asking for a taste of wine before purchasing a $ 40 bottle, I was told no she couldn’t because of the line. I tried to reason with her, asking for just a small taste for only one person, we didn’t all want to taste– to which she replied «READ MY LIPS» (pointing to her lips) she will not do a taste with a line behind me. There was 3 people pouring and 4 people in line behind me, not much of a line if you ask me, especially when I didn’t want a glass I wanted a bottle. In the time it took her to argue with me she could have poured a measly sip so our group could be satisfied. Anyway, we bought the mediocre wine and moved on. After the concert the real nightmare began. We sat in the parking lot for an hour and 15 minutes without moving an inch. Finally, we decided to turn around and went through the lot to the front and merged our way in to the front; had we not done that I think we might still be waiting in line. As a local I was really pumped to have a good venue, but after tonight I may not come back. I can drive home from the SB bowl in the time it takes me to leave the Vina parking lot.
Side note, food was eh and over priced but that’s expected. $ 5 for same size fries as one could get from any fast food restaurant for $ 1.

Great venue. Everywhere a good seat. Ample access to food and drink.
Just takes awhile to exit venue in your car.

Vina Robles is a great venue with great prices, easy transactions. I’ve been for many concerts and love the atmosphere, the sound and the lawn seating. It’s not so big that you can’t still see the act quite clearly. Better than the Mid State Fair, and great acts. Bring a blanket, get there early to grab a great spot on the grass, grab a drink and enjoy.

Tiny amphitheater, which is AWESOME because the music will sound great no matter where you sit! I loved the variety at the bar and the delicious food they offered. It’s pretty rare that you actually get good food at a show, but these guys were knocking out fresh pizzas from the pizza ovens and offering delicious wine from the vineyard on the property. I loved the glasses they came in too. They’re the plastic «Govino» shatter proof ones. Very handy at a concert!

I attended the Deftones show and was so very pleased with this venue. Parking is easy and totally level. The attendants do their best to get you in and out quickly. There is lots of disabled parking; just show you placard to the attendants and they’ll quickly direct you to parking. To make it easier to leave, the attendant suggested i pull into my parking spot backwards, in order to not have the hassle of backing out while dodging pedestrians and other cars. Genius!
I am mobility-​impaired, not to the point of a wheelchair, but stairs are problematic. There is plenty of accessible seating that avoids stairs, and there is a gently-​sloped ramp to the right as you come into the front gate. We got to the venue as the gates opened and not realizing the ramp was where it was, headed left toward our section and plotted a route to use the fewest stairs. The attendants noticed I was mobility-​impaired and guided me to another ramp, and assured me they’d look out for me on the way out. Once you get to the reserved seating area, there are no stairs, just a gentle slope with rails nearby.
True to their word, at show’s end the attendants helped me up the stairs, blocking off people who were moving a lot faster than me.
This is an excellent outdoor venue with good sound, and reasonably comfortable access to someone with mobility problems, either wheelchair-​bound or those who just don’t move as quickly as others. It is very well-​maintained with several food and beverage shacks (we didn’t buy food or drink this time, will definitely eat there next time). I will be back.
Oh, and the Deftones just plain rocked it! Sure would love to see Garbage there next year!

This is by far the nicest and cleanest venue I have visited for a concert. Well organized inside.
There really isn’t a bad seat in the whole place. I purchased general seats and we were only two rows behind the pit, dead center of the stage. :) great venue. The only downfall– as with a few other outdoor venues, is that there’s only one way in/​out. So you’ll want to just hang out in your car after, until the line to exit is reduced.

Thank you for having free parking. It only took us 18 minutes to exit the parking lot to the street after the Ringo Starr concert and we were parked halfway in the back dirt lot. There seemed to plenty of staff helping direct drivers arriving and leaving. I was very impressed with the overall experience!

I am extremely disappointed in VR. Went to Tears for Fears concert last night. Great music! I was asked by an employee to sit down (not dance). Are you kidding me?
No dancing at a rock concert!
These prudent rules known before people purchase their tickets.
We are locals but have been to over 200 large venue concerts from San Diego to San Francisco and have NEVER been asked to sit by venue employee. We arrived early and were in the middle of grass section.
Are you allowed to stand or dance if you have an assigned seat?

Tears for Fears concert was great, however, the parking situation is absolutely ridiculous! Took an hour to get out, and when we called the Vino Robles phone number, the inexperienced guy who answered the phone said that it was not yet an hour past the concert and asked if i had ever been to the Hollywood Bowl. What the hell kind of response is that?!? You can’t even compare this small venue to the Hollywood Bowl. The asshole was extremely defensive and hung up on me rather than listening to what I was trying to tell him. The parking attendants don’t know what the hell they are doing and could not direct traffic out of a paper bag. Will NEVER GO BACK TO VINA ROBLES AGAIN!!! Way to take a great concert and turn it into one of the most disappointing evenings ever!

Enjoyed the Brian Regan Show! First time at Vina Robles… Parking was cool coming in but a 45 minute joke leaving! Parking attendants were obviously hired for the night at minimum wage and don’t care if you ever get home! Otherwise a great venue!

After a year of talking about it. I finally made it up to Paso Robles. I have a love for the wine in Paso and Russian River Valley. Fortunately, this is within driving distance… and since there was a concert here that I wanted to see. why not?
This place is like a smaller version of the Hollywood Bowl. Well minus the bringing in a picnic basket. The wine wasn’t expensive. you can buy it by the bottle and it comes with a decanter and glasses. Food was okay. we got pulled pork sandwiches. You can get relatively affordable tickets and sit on the benches in the back or walk down to the main floor. People are right. there isn’t a bad seat in this place.
We ubered there. it seemed like a good idea but like all concert halls, it was a terrible idea when we left. It took a while to get a driver since it’s a small city. but it was an adventure.
I would definitely come again… wish it was closer.

Venue is great but getting out after the concert is difficult.

The previous reviews are correct, there is not a bad seat in the house! I recently visited for a Friday night Third eye blind /​Dashboard Confessional show with general admission– pit tickets. There was no pushing or shoving (and plenty of security on hand to pull anyone out who might attempt it), the whole venue was super clean, customer service at wine/​beer stands was great, and the audio was very clear.
If you purchase wine and re-​use your glass you get $ 1 off your next glass or purchase a bottle of wine and re-​use your decanter for $ 3 off your next bottle. I was nervous about the amount of time I expected it to take to get out of the parking lot, but we were out of our spot and on the main road within 10 – 15 min. I cannot wait to see another show here. May go for the GA lawn next time for a more relaxed experience, but the standing area was great too. No lines in the ladies room (very rare at concerts!) and overall very impressed with this venue.

This place is laid out pretty nicely. You can tell that they put some thought into it. It reminds me of a tiny Shoreline Amphitheater. If you get the cheap seats, meaning orchestra, it’s a big concrete half moon for you to stand on, but you can also sit on the grass above the seats. What’s handy is to bring a blanket to sit on, and don’t forget your jackets! It gets a little chilly at night, even during the summers.
The beers are $ 8, but there is plenty of it if you like Firestone, Stella, it Shock Top. Also, food vendors are there, and the bathrooms are at each side, and clean.
When you come in, they check to see that you’re not bringing food but other than that it is pretty lax.
Make sure that you bring everything you want to, because if you leave, you’re not getting back in!
My only gripe about the place was with the acoustics. The sound was off. There was a lot of echo, and it the mids got lost somewhere. Still, the experience was enjoyable!

Love this venue definitely better than anything in L.A. Worth the drive staying nearby got a shuttle from the park over good experience so far.

We recently attended this venue for a wonderful concert. The location is easy to find, concessions were nice, local wines served. The only negative we found was the «exit strategy «or lack thereof. We waited in line for an hour just to leave the parking lot. I will seriously consider before attending this venue in the future.

This venue is beautiful and every bit as nice as the Santa Barbara Bowl and like the bowl, there is an even nicer area for «members» and «VIP’s».
We really enjoyed Steely Dan. The drink prices are on the high side, buts that’s show-​biz; they don’t make you buy them. We got a bottle of wine, as we were with a group.
The staff is very helpful and friendly. The Steely Dan crowd was pretty well behaved.
The parking lot is a nightmare after the show and that’s the price of rice in China. we sang and told jokes for close to an hour before we were on the road. Next time we may look into some kind of shuttle or parking we can walk to off site. The venue itself is quite comfortable but walking to back at night can be chilly. We layered up and were glad we did.

Great venue. But, the parking is the worst. Makes a great evening not so great. You can’t have 3300 people coming out of one lane. Takes 1.5 hrs to get out when it’s sold out.
I can understand leaving a football game with 50k people and waiting for an hr… but 3000 people… really? 1.5 hrs? Right now I’ve sat I’m the exact same spot for 50 minutes so far for steely dan. I mean, not one dang inch. And I’m all the way at the back, so even tho I left early, I’ll still be here for an hr and a half, minimum. Just like for lynryd skynryd and zz top…
Maybe some Porta potties at the back of the parking lot may be a good idea? I mean serving so much wine, making people sit in your parking lot for hrs on end. don’t much of the fans for zz top, skynryd and steely dan have prostate problems. Come on!!!
This may be the last one vina.

Simone,
Thank you for your reply to my review. I stand by what I wrote, I have no reason to exaggerate.
Best of luck to you; the concept is a wonderful idea giving visitors more to do after 5 p.m. Maybe we will try your venue again some day. Thank you.